Piaget to King & Kitchener

1. Piaget to King & Kitchener • How do we know what we know? • Why do we believe?

2. Piaget’s stages of Development Equilibration - the term for the process of maintaining balance between our environment and the mental structures we use to represent that environment. Accommodation is the modification of existing schema in response to new knowledge or experience.. Assimilation is what you do when you fit new information into your present knowledge and beliefs (schemas)

3. Criticisms of Piaget • The changes from one stage to another are neither as clear cut nor as sweeping as Piaget implied. • Children can understand far more than Piaget gave them credit for. • Preschoolers are not as egocentric as Piaget thought.

4. Beyond Piaget • Piaget’s theory ends at 12+ years of age. • Piaget’s theory fails to address higher order thinking skills. • King, K.M. and Kitchener, K.S. (1994) . Developing Reflective Judgment: Understanding and Promoting Intellectual Growth and Critical Thinking in Adolescents and Adults • Pre-Reflective Thinking

5. Stages of Pre-Reflective Thinking • Stage 1 Knowledge is assumed to exist absolutely and concretely; it is not understood as an abstraction. It can be obtained with certainty by direct observation. • "I know what I have seen." • Stage 2 Knowledge is assumed to be absolutely certain or certain but not immediately available. Knowledge can be obtained directly through the senses (as in direct observation) or via authority figures. • "If it is on the news, it has to be true." • Stage 3 Knowledge is assumed to be absolutely certain or temporarily uncertain. In areas of temporary uncertainty, only personal beliefs can be known until absolute knowledge is obtained. In areas of absolute certainty, knowledge is obtained from authorities. • "When there is evidence that people can give to convince everybody one way or another, then it will be knowledge, until then, it's just a guess."

6. Quasi-Reflective Thinking • Stage 4 Knowledge is uncertain and knowledge claims are idiosyncratic to the individual since situational variables (such as incorrect reporting of data, data lost over time, or disparities in access to information) dictate that knowing always involves an element of ambiguity. • "I'd be more inclined to believe evolution if they had proof .It's just like the pyramids: I don't think we'll ever know. Who are you going to ask? No one was there." • Stage 5 Knowledge is contextual and subjective since it is filtered through a person's perceptions and criteria for judgment. Only interpretations of evidence, events, or issues may be known. • "People think differently and so they attack the problem differently. Other theories could be as true as my own, but based on different evidence."

7. Reflexive Thinking • Stage 6 Knowledge is constructed into individual conclusions about ill-structured problems on the basis of information from a variety of sources. Interpretations that are based on evaluations of evidence across contexts and on the evaluated opinions of reputable others can be known. • "It's very difficult in this life to be sure. There are degrees of sureness. You come to a point at which you are sure enough for a personal stance on the issue." • Stage 7 Knowledge is the outcome of a process of reasonable inquiry in which solutions to ill-structured problems are constructed. The adequacy of those solutions is evaluated in terms of what is most reasonable or probable according to the current evidence, and it is reevaluated when relevant new evidence, perspectives, or tools of inquiry become available. • "One can judge an argument by how well thought-out the positions are, what kinds of reasoning and evidence are used to support it, and how consistent the way one argues on this topic is as compared with other topics."

8. Self-Efficacy • In order for either Piaget’s theory or King’s theory to apply there needs to be a level of self-efficacy. • Sources of Self-Efficacy: • Mastery Experiences • Vicarious experiences • Social Persuasion (the most difficlult and least effective)

9. Efficacy-Activated Processes • There are four major psychological processes through which self-beliefs affect functioning. • Cognitive Processes - thought and forethought. • Motivational Processes - attribution theory • causal - attribution theory • outcome expectancies - expectancy-value theory • cognized goals - goal theory

10. Efficacy-Activated Processes • Affective Processes - processes regulating emotional states and eliciting emotional reactions. • Selection Processes - the types of activities we choose are influenced by our personal sense of efficacy.

11. Attribution Theory Attributions - inferences we make about the causes of behavior.

12. Attribution Theory Assumptions: 1. Individuals are motivated by a goal of understanding and mastering the environment and themselves. 2. Individuals try to understand the causal determinants of their own behavior as well as the behavior of others. Pages 193-195 Glassman

13. Typical Attributions These are typical academic attributions. Attribution Locus, Stability, Control

14. Attribution Errors Studies by Miller 1984, Weisz et al. 1984 indicate there is a cultural difference it’s not a trait common to all.

15. Expectancy-Value Theory • Behavior is a function of the expectancies a person has the value of the goal one is working toward. • When more than one behavior is possible the behavior chosen will be the one with the largest combination of expected success and value. B = f(E V) Social behaviors, achievement motivation and work motivation.

16. Goal Theory • Goal theory is an extension of attribution theory. • Students pursue goals and those goals are associated with certain behaviors and beliefs. • Mastery oriented students want to increase their knowledge and competence. They are intrinsically motivated. • Performance motivated students believe ability is the cause of success. Intelligence is viewed as a fixed trait. They use fewer strategies and attribute success to uncontrollable factors.